The lighting in vehicles, and in particular inside the cockpits of planes, is often inadequate. The manufacturer may include some incandescent lights, but these are often entirely dependent on the vehicle's electrical system, consume a lot of power, generate heat, and provide harsh light that interferes with the operator's night vision. It is difficult to retrofit additional lighting in existing vehicles. There are few appropriate locations to mount standard incandescent or fluorescent fixtures where they can provide useful light. Moreover, these fixtures typically have bulky, rigid housings, and custom fixtures are too expensive for most applications. Many retrofit light fixtures are also unattractive, detracting from the appearance of the vehicle interior.
One attempt to solve the problem of cockpit lighting is Hudak, U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,205, which discloses a lighting device which may be detachably, rotatably attached to an earpiece of a pilots earphone headset or helmet. This device only provides light where the pilot looks, and thus does not provide general in the cockpit for reading charts and the or scanning the instruments, nor is it a substitute if there is a general failure of the instrument panel lighting. Similarly, Lambert, U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,892 discloses a finger-mounted light for use in airplanes.
Other attempts at improving lighting in aircraft cockpits include Langner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,472; Barnette, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,415; Meggs et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,835; Aikens et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,080, and Garrett, U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,189, and Cotton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,175.
Electroluminescent lamps are known, see Fleming, U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,555, incorporated herein by reference, and these lamps have been employed on aircraft to provide emergency escape lighting, see, for example, Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,232, incorporated herein by reference. However this device was not adapted to provide illumination of the cockpit or the instrument panel, nor with rigid, bulky configuration was it adapted to be mounted under the glare shield or in other locations in and around the cockpit. Electroluminescent lamps have also be used in the illumination of instruments. See, for example Reiter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,683 and Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,532, incorporated herein by reference.